Taika sat alone in Room 59 of the MA Office they were staying in on Thursday morning. Shouri and Pacifica had gone off to get breakfast. Well aware of the trouble she’d cause by going with, Taika would handle the little bit of loneliness that came with staying behind.
The vixen was perched on one of the loveseats, watching television whilst brushing her tail. The news was what Shouri had settled on before his departure. It was mostly gibberish to the fox, not due to any kind of language barrier, but simply because she just wasn’t knowledgeable about worldly affairs (or even domestic ones for that matter.)
So this just led to her analysis of the news program being: people sure are speaking words today.
However, a particular segment caught her attention.
“Grand Master Melanie delivers another brutal victory in last night’s exhibition match, KRSV News got exclusive footage from the match.”
The scene transitioned to a stadium where a raven-haired Maestro commanded her canine Resonator to victory. Taika took interest in the footage she was watching, noting how differently the Maestro on the TV commanded her Resonator versus how Shouri did. There was a particular savageness to how she was ordering her Resonator.
The Resonator in question seemed almost... familiar though. He was a tall lanky thing, kind of like- “Damian?”
The resemblance was uncanny, though upon closer inspection the fire-element on screen couldn’t be the same Doberman she was familiar with. This man’s ears weren’t always perked up like Damian’s, but more crucially, this particular Resonator had a full tail, unlike Damian, who was missing nearly all of his.
“Grand Master Melanie has been on a tear recently through the exhibition circuit.”
“She was a resident of Luna before she came down here to Riterra, right?”
“She may be from Luna, but she definitely won’t run from any challenge, that’s for sure!”
And with that, the news became boring again. This Melanie character came from the moon though? Taika knew a smidge about the natural satellite that orbited their planet. Supposedly people lived all the way up there, and could come down to Riterra proper?
It was by this point that Shouri and Pacifica returned with food, and Taika dismissed the entire thing to the back of her mind.
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Afternoon came and the trio decided to head down to the gym as planned the night before. “We’ll run some drills, Pacifica,” Shouri told her as they crossed the lawn to the second building on campus. “At this point, I’ve had more time to work with Taika,” he added. The vixen seemed a bit down by that comment. “But we’ll try your new spell a couple of times.” The Maestro patted the fox girl’s head, causing her to brighten up.
As they made their way into the building and the casting range proper, Pacifica immediately felt a dark cloud from her Maestro and fellow Resonator. “It’s okay. I’m here with you now. I’ll kick anyone’s ass that wants to hassle you,” she declared.
Shouri cracked a smile. “Thanks, Pacifica.”
Taika remained silent, trying to appear as small as possible. Of course, the ever-vigilant Pacifica didn’t allow that to slide.
“Come on! We’re gonna have fun!” Grabbing Taika’s hand, Pacifica dragged the poor girl off to a free booth.
Shaking his head, Shouri followed his two companions.
Within the privacy of the booth, Shouri had Pacifica use her basic water and ice spells taking note of where in the bullseye her spells landed. Overall, she had pretty okay accuracy, though not nearly as spot-on as Taika.
“Hmmm...” Shouri stroked his chin in thought.
“Is it that bad?” The otter questioned. She had done fine in the heat of battle, but she didn’t like the way her Maestro hummed.
“Throw again,” he requested.
This time, as she drew her arm back and threw her water needles, he studied her form and how she was releasing them. As with Taika, he began looking for videos of Resonators of Pacifica’s element and attribute to get their form down.
Finding an acceptable one, he handed Pacifica her own tuner. “Study this while Taika and I try her new spell.” The fox-girl’s ears shot up as she came to attention.
Switching spots, Pacifica sat on the bench looking over the video, while Taika took the center stage.
“I have no idea what to expect Sho.” The fox girl admitted.
“It’ll be fine. I want to try a round using the support modifier and then we can do one with the attack modifier.” He told her. She nodded and faced the target.
“Fissare la Ombra, Presto!” he commanded.
Rather than using her knowledge of the spell, she relaxed and allowed Shouri’s rhythm to guide her. Passing a hand in front of her, a small bolt of lunar energy appeared in front of her. With the target in mind, it launched off down the course. Rather than going towards the bulls-eye, the energy bolt tracked down, hitting the shadow of the target instead.
It stuck in the ground, keeping the shadow of the bulls-eye locked in place, dark purple sparks arcing off of the stuck bolt of energy.
“I guess it dissipates faster if the target struggles against it?” Shouri hypothesized. Taika nodded slowly.
“That’s kinda cool.” Pacifica gasped, having watched the performance.
Shouri glanced down at Taika’s spell list. If their hypothesis was right and it worked like that nature spell, Rullante di Radice, he could just call it with an attack modifier and this spell would have a modified effect. Would that even work? And if it did, how would the spell change?
The Maestro took in a deep breath. Inaction wouldn’t scratch the itch. “Let’s try the other one.” He decided, releasing his held breath. Re-adjusting her stance, Taika prepared to cast once more.
“Fissare la Ombra, Pianissimo!” Shouri called out.
Again, the lunar Resonator followed the same process she had followed prior. The spell appeared no different than the first casting: as she ejected the energy bolt from her own space, it flew in the same arc – locked on the shadow of the target.
It was the actual impact that was different though. Rather than sticking in the ground and remaining there, as soon as it hit the shadow it burst. That wasn’t the impressive part – it was what happened to the actual target that earned three gasps of astonishment.
Where the bolt had struck on the shadow of the target, manifested an explosion-like tear on the actual target.
“YO, THAT’S SO COOL WHAT THE FUCK?!” Pacifica shouted excitedly, pointing at the now-damaged target.
“Fissare la Ombra, Presto Staccato!” Shouri called out.
Taika jumped at the sudden rhythm from her Maestro. She fought creating the spell for a moment – unlike normal staccato spells, there was intention behind this one that pressed down on her. He wanted her to launch a volley of them. Her body was wracked with tremors as the invasive rhythm attempted to exert its control over her. Finally, she succumbed to her Maestro’s will and made about a dozen bolts of the spell, sending them all off in rapid succession.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The arrows of shadowy energy all struck different spots within the target’s shadow. The sparks that the dozen or so bolts produced were much more intense, seeming to link off each other.
Shouri glared at the stuck target, seeing not a harmless bullseye, but the kidnapper’s Resonator. His glare intensified, playing back a hypothetical scenario in his mind on repeat.
“Sho!” By this point, Pacifica grabbed her Maestro’s shoulders and shook him.
Shouri inhaled deeply, shaken out of his stupor. “P-pacifica!” He grabbed her shoulders back, trembling, eyes wide.
“A-are you okay Sho?” Taika hesitantly asked.
“I just...” he trailed off, gripping Pacifica’s shoulders tightly. She stared back, becoming awash with powerful emotion. What he felt, what he saw, what fears lurked in the back of his mind; she started to drown in it with him – her strength of emotion, was also a weakness in this way. Building a strong bond with someone like her Maestro meant it was easy for her to get pulled into his feelings; especially if it was a traumatic event that she had experienced with him.
“H-hey!” And poor Taika was left out, unaware of the pain the two felt. Finally, she had enough and reached out, wrapping her arms around both of them, holding them tightly. They both snapped out of their shared panic attack.
“Taika...”
The smaller vixen looked up at her taller friends. “Are you okay now? You both kinda freaked out.”
Pacifica and Shouri shared an uneasy glance.
“N-no, but it’s getting better,” Shouri replied.
“Thanks to you,” Pacifica added, managing to crack a small smile.
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“Heyyyyy!”
Shouri, Pacifica, and Taika all flinched at the voice that hit their ears.
The afternoon had passed to night, and wanting to capitalize on their current financial situation, they wandered back to the hunter base camp again to earn some more coin. Unfortunately, a certain social butterfly found them instantly.
“Hey, Cera.” Shouri begrudgingly turned to face the other Maestro. Of course, the young man was accompanied by his Resonator, who towered over the group as a whole.
“Find anyone to help us with the Big Scherzando?” Cera immediately inquired.
Shouri averted his gaze. “Nobody yet,” came the admission. Truthfully, he hadn’t even tried. Talking to other people took more effort than he was willing to exert. But Cera didn’t need to know that.
Cera nodded pensively. “Yeah, not many people outside of duelists really want to go fight Big Scherzando,” he admitted.
That was an interesting statement. “Why’s that?” Taika asked.
“That spell I gave y'all last night takes a ton of rhythm. Duelists – the guys running the tournament circuit have a ton of rhythm because they usually fight in some seriously rhythm-intense battles on game day. So if they want to make it to the next day they have to be able to run the gauntlet as it were,” he imparted on the uninitiated Resonator. “That being said, they’re in a safe environment, so if need be they can bust out the big guns and let loose without fear of suddenly getting jumped.”
The trio of greenhorns took all this in. None of them were too interested in competitive battling, but the information was nice to have.
Cera was more than happy to continue talking. “We hunters specialize more in resource conservation and Resonator defense. You never know how many Scherzando are gonna appear and jump ya. Our Resonators are usually more healing and shielding attribs with some big guys like Saul to hold the line. Those tourney guys focus on quick take-downs, speed is the name of the game. The faster your opponent falls the less rhythm you need to put out up front.”
Shouri hummed in thought. It made sense to him, but he decided to ask the obvious question for the sake of his Resonators. “So naturally they want those dual element spells so all of their Resonators can have as good of a match-up as possible – is that what you’re getting at?”
“Yep, you got it. And L’ultera Nationals starts in a few weeks, so they’re all down there preparing for it or trying to get their last-minute invites. Only a few guys are still up here and those are the ones who got their world’s invites,” Cera explained.
Folding her arms across her chest, Pacifica nodded. “I assume none of those guys want to help?” she asked the obvious question.
Cera’s usual carefree, jovial expression quickly switched to a rather annoyed one. “Most of the guys in our area already have established rosters. Not worth the risk of getting one of their prized Resonators hurt,” the man complained with a huff. “Unless for whatever reason they need to replace one of their main Resonators in rotation, they’ll just focus on maintaining their Resonators and rhythm until the next tournament,” he grumbled. The nature Maestro stewed in his emotions for a bit longer before perking back up.
“It’s okay though! There are plenty of people who travel here! I’m sure one of them will be willing to help!” Cera declared.
The out-of-town trio looked at each other and chuckled nervously.
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Another night’s work was completed without a major incident. With a successful night under their belt, they made their way down the beach walk towards the Maestro Affairs Office where they were staying. “It’s getting easier by the day,” Shouri noted.
“Mhm!” Pacifica beamed with pride.
“I’m not nearly as tired as when we first started doing this and it’s been less than two weeks,” Shouri commented.
“I can feel it from the rhythm you give us,” Taika added.
The Maestro came to a stop under a street lamp, the two girls stopping a couple of paces after that and turned to their leader. “What’s up Sho?” Pacifica tilted her head slightly. His gaze was trained down, obviously he was in thought.
“Do you two still want to go after that big Scherzando with Cera?” he asked them.
The otter and fox looked to each other, then to their Maestro.
“Of course.”
“Yeah.”
He nodded. “I see.”
Pacifica opened her mouth to add more, but Taika beat her to the punch. “That Big Scherzando is hurting and killing people. I can’t just leave things like that.” Even saying this, the lunar Resonator shuddered, recalling the feeling of sensing it for the first time. “If no one else does anything, it’s going to hurt more people.”
Shouri was taken aback by Taika’s determination, though as she spoke, her blue eyes were lit up with rhythm. “Ah, stubborn willpower,” he whispered to himself. Taking in a deep breath he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the lunar Resonator. Her eyes opened wide, face reddening instantly. “If that’s your answer, we’ll do it,” he told her, squeezing her tighter as he did so.
Releasing the now flustered fox, he saw Pacifica pouting at him. With an eye roll and a smile, he hugged her too. “If you think we’re in over our heads I’m counting on you to tell us when to bail,” the Maestro told the otter.
“O-of course, you can count on me!” she stammered out, appreciating getting her share of the hugs.